Senami Grand Hotel Haginoya
瀬波グランドホテル はぎのや
Does Senami Grand Hotel Haginoya allow tattoos? In a private bath
Haginoya sits beside Senami's hot spring source, and fifteen of its rooms have an open-air tub on the terrace filled from it; the Fubitei rooms have a round dark ceramic tub fed by a wooden spout.
Haginoya publishes no tattoo rule for its shared baths. Its answer is the room: fifteen suites and rooms each have an open-air tub on the terrace filled with the hot spring, which the hotel recirculates and tops up with water to hold a comfortable heat.
The bath
The rooms with their own open-air bath are the reason to stay, and there are fifteen. Kaze-no-Izumi, four terrace suites opened in 2016, have beds throughout. Kaze-no-Niwa, four suites, mix a Japanese room with a bed space in a modern style. Fubitei, seven rooms, pair a calm Japanese room with an open-air tub; the photos show a round, dark ceramic tub under a wooden spout behind a slatted screen. The hotel says all of them use natural hot spring water, kept at a comfortable heat by recirculating it through a filter and adding water. Bathrobes, room slippers and a massage chair come with every one, and dinner is served in the room.
The hotel says it is the closest inn to the source, which rises on the slope behind it. It lists the water as a sodium chloride spring, alkaline and hot, 81.5°C at the source, for nerve, muscle and joint pain, stiff shoulders, sprains, cold sensitivity and fatigue. The spring was struck in 1904 by a crew drilling for oil.
The shared baths are on three floors. Nagame on the 8th floor has a 270-degree view over the pine-lined shore and the town, an open-air bath and a dry sauna. Netsu-no-yu on the 7th floor, opened in 2012, is built of cypress with a steam sauna. Nozomi is on the 3rd floor. Men and women swap Nagame and Nozomi by time of day.
The hotel
A hotel-style ryokan above the inn quarter of Senami. Besides the open-air bath rooms, Baikoen has three rooms with two twin bedrooms, a living room, a laundry and a small kitchen, and there are Japanese-style twins and Japanese rooms. The lounge Viola pours free drinks, Yasuda yogurt among them. A massage salon has ten massage chairs, a reading corner has picture books and manga, and breakfast is a buffet in the dining room Hamanasu, opened in 2016.
Good to know
- Free pickup from Murakami Station, between 2 and 5 p.m., booked ahead; the car takes guests back between 9 and 11 a.m.
- No non-smoking rooms, but the hotel deodorizes a room before you arrive if you ask.
- The cypress bath on the 7th floor stays open at any hour of your stay.
Getting there
From Niigata Station, the limited express Inaho reaches Murakami Station in about 45 minutes, by the hotel's FAQ. The hotel's car picks guests up free at Murakami Station between 2 and 5 p.m.; book it, or phone the hotel when you arrive. The hotel publishes no ride time from the station. Drivers leave the Nihonkai-Tohoku Expressway at Kamihayashi-Iwafunekou IC, about 8 minutes away; parking holds about 100 cars and has two EV chargers.
Murakami STN · JR Uetsu line (limited express Inaho)
Not walkable.
Free hotel pickup from Murakami Station, 2 to 5 p.m., booked ahead.
Where it is
Inn shuttle stop
- Joetsu Shinkansen 2 hr
- JR Inaho limited express 45 min
- hotel pickup 10 min
- Shinkansen tickets Seats between any two stations, booked by date.
- JR East Pass from ¥35,000 · 5 or 10 consecutive days Covers the Toki, a Joetsu Shinkansen service, to Niigata and the Inaho limited express on to Murakami.
- Japan Rail Pass from ¥53,000 · 7, 14 or 21 days For a trip that takes in several regions by Shinkansen and JR lines.
What happens when you arrive
Use the bath in your room.
How we know
Bath layout confirmed, tattoo policy not published Checked on the official site: (the hotel's open-air bath room page)
Best for: couples who want dinner served in a room with its own hot spring tub on the terrace
Rooms with an open-air spring bath, 15 in all: Kaze-no-Izumi terrace suites (4 rooms, opened 2016, beds), Kaze-no-Niwa suites (4 rooms, Japanese modern), Fubitei (7 Japanese rooms). The hotel says the tubs use natural hot spring water, recirculated through a filter with water added. Dinner for these rooms is served in the room; bathrobes and a massage chair come with them. Shared baths: 8th-floor view bath Nagame and 3rd-floor bath Nozomi (men and women swap by time of day), 7th-floor cypress bath Netsu-no-yu (opened 2012, open at any hour of the stay). The FAQ says the hotel has no non-smoking rooms and odor-treats a room on request. No pets.
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